A Serious Conversation with Myself

Sometimes I blog to get things off my chest and maybe, get you to think a bit differently about a topic near and dear to me. Sometimes, I just do it to clear my head. This time I'm hoping you'll introduce yourself and join the conversation.

“There used to be a little grey cloud that followed me around and rained worry on me all the time, about the environment and things like that.”

“Sounds like a drag. Is it still a problem?”

“Not really. I took care of it.”

“What did you do?”

“It was easy, I just moved into that cloud. Now it's somebody else's problem.”

“Don't you mean me?”

“That could be. There's plenty of room up here if you want to join me though.”

“But if everybody moves up there, who is going to take care of everything down here?”

“It's probably too late to do anything about anything anyway, so it makes no sense to worry about it.”

“Aren't you afraid that it could all just fall apart, trap your grandkids in a deluge or avalanche of grief?”

“Yeah, I'd probably have to really increase my dosage, of whatever it is that they've been giving me.”

“Does it concern you that you may be witnessing the total breakdown of the world you were gifted with at birth?”

“If I cared about anything, I suppose that is something that I might care about, but honestly I don't.”

“Maybe there is some secret technology breakthrough that will solve all of these crises, a reason to hope?”

“More inanimate devices seem unlikely to re-connect us to the life-force, which has been in open retreat.”

“What happened to the concept that your whole life is devoted to enhancing the prospects of your heirs?”

“It was discarded as archaic, selfish and unrealistic, as they are unworthy, undeserving, and unappreciative.”

“Don't you worry that your kids will abandon you in your dotage, ignore you and forget you exist?”

“They've been practicing that day and night since they were little tykes, have got it down pretty good.”

“So you don't care if there is a habitable planet left when you are carried off onto your next adventure?”

“I doubt if a piece of rock has much feelings for me and the sentiment is just about the same over here.”

“What about all the plants and animals, and all that fervent praying for everlasting life etc. etc. etc.?”

“Well it's nice to look at all that stuff and music in church is sometimes cool but none of that really matters.”

“You mean that was all an act, a charade, a Big Lie, just a way to get what you wanted on the cheap?”

“I guess you could say so, but I was just doing the same thing everybody else was doing, no big deal.”

“But don't you see that not paying attention turned your chicken coop into a fast food joint for the foxes?”

“You vegetarian-types think it's all about the “Big Picture” but you forget it can be pretty rough down here.”

“Does anybody think that emptying out the oceans of anything alive, down to the plankton, is survivable?”

“More hysteria, whipped up by professional environmentalists who depend upon these wild exaggerations.”

“What about the fishermen, whose empty boats and long faces speak loudly about their changing daily lives?”

“They can get jobs as truck drivers or plumbers, tell stories about how great things used to be sometimes.”

”But if this isn't just one cog in the wheel, is it possible that it could be a crucial one, that we can't do without?”

“Look, maybe our species is like a restless teen-ager, tired of the routine, looking for some risky behavior.”

“Sure, but don't your hear all the time about a terrible accident, where one of these kids goes over the edge?”

“And girls have babies when they're too young and maybe we expect too much of those who are in power.”

“Once you take on those responsibilities though, shouldn't we expect a much higher order of behavior?”

“Only if we are delusional, since they have demonstrated historically that they are just like us, only bigger.”

“So what about the guy who writes this blog, who thinks that we all have to make new kinds of bikes, jump to the human-scale etc.”

“He's just like all the rest, except worse, because he fosters the hope that there is actually a way out of this .”

“Well, we have our hands and brains so shouldn't there be a way to use our ingenuity to crack this case?”

“Nobody beats the rap, unless somebody gets to the judge, which is why politics actually matters.”

“So if it doesn't help that he writes this thing, the proof is that nobody, at least hardly ever, comments on anything?”

“That's how I would interpret this lack of response, either nobody is actually reading it, or nobody cares.”

“Then, does it even make sense to keep going on about this stuff, creative designs, World's Fair blah, blah?”

“I'd suggest there be a pause, see if anybody notices, to open up the discussion to everybody else and see.”

“Maybe that Disqus system doesn't work just right and the comments get swallowed up and disappear?”

“I suppose, or very few people get through those 2000 words all the way to the end where the comments are.”

“Or do readers think that you said it all, and it really doesn't require their commentary on your commentary?”

“There is really no way to know what they are thinking if they won't say anything even when you ask them to.”

“So should I stop writing every week? I'd like to ask you to decide. Is there anybody there? Anybody care?”

Please create your own Commentary and begin a conversation. Help put the Common back in Commentary.

And identify yourself and let us know that you exist. Check in. It makes this all worthwhile. Thank you.

Steve Stollman

NY

Unites States

Longtime NYC advocate for human-scale vehicles, including electric-assist bicycles and pedicabs, as well as a stronger local, creative and public role in determining public-space issues. I imagine streets in the future filled with clean, quiet, weather-protected, multi-person conveyances that are beautifully and uniquely crafted, shaped and decorated by human hands, gifting our roadways with color and rhythm, as well as safe and affordable transport, bringing a degree of charm and convenience to congested urban spaces everywhere that we are afraid to even dream of enjoying.
Music and Lyrics at www.SteveStollman.com
www.SharingUmbrellas.org for the 2014-2015 New York World's Fair Anniversary Celebrations

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